New Deal photography

Peter Walther, Isabel Varea-Riley, Ursula Wulfekamp, Philippe Mothe

Amid the ravages of the Great Depression, the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) was founded in 1935 to address the country's rural poverty. Its efforts focused on improving the lives of sharecroppers, tenants, and very poor landowning farmers, with resettlement and collectivization programs, as well as modernized farming methods. In a parallel documentation program, the FSA hired a number of photographers and writers to record the lives of the rural poor and introduce America to Americans. This book records the full reach of the FSA program from 1935 to 1943, honoring its vigor and commitment across subjects, states, and stylistic preferences. The photographs are arranged into four broad regional sections but otherwise allowed to speak for themselves to provide individual impressions as much as they cumulatively build an indelible survey of a nation. Through color and...